Fun and Games With the Laws of Nature
by FiveForChibis
Summary: Fun and Games are sure to come when the supernatural realm decides Kaiba needs to change his tune a little. Throw an loud-mouthed but cute blond and his friends into the mix and it's gonna turn into one heck of a bumpy ride. Possible Lemon later on.
1. One Manipulative Bastard

_-Well this is my first story so please reveiw and tell me if you want this to continue_

_warning: puppyshipping_

Chapter 1

And so.-long pause-That concludes.-double pause-Our orientation for the new school year.-excruciatingly long pause-Please go to your homerooms now to pick up your schedules for this semester.-a slightly shorter pause-All changes to your schedule must be completed within two weeks from now.-another hour long pause-Please ask your homeroom teachers about any courses you may wish to add or drop.-the final pause before…-That will be all. Good Day.

Kaiba allowed himself a final eye roll before getting up from his seat and following the rest of his fellow peers out of the auditorium.

'Whoever allowed that man to speak in front of any sort of large audience should be shot,' Kaiba thought as he rubbed his sore temples. 'Someone needs to explain to him that _one _period at the end of a sentence is enough to suffice.'

Two hours of the principal's agonizingly long lecture in the hot and stuffy auditorium had left Kaiba with a painful headache and an increasingly bad mood; at least the start of the school year meant he would only have to endure half a day of school that day. Just thirty minutes more of homeroom and he'd be on his way to his lovely air conditioned office and cold cup of iced latte. That wouldn't be so bad especially since the homeroom teacher, Yuki Sensei, usually just left them to their own devices while he read the morning newspaper. He could easily survive 30 minutes of relatively quiet reading.

Of course in Kaiba's world things never worked as well as he hoped. His hopes of a quiet reading time were shot down when a blond haired boy slammed into him on his way through the classroom doorway. Kaiba gritted his teeth as he stumbled forward, a sharp pain rising up his left arm as his left elbow slammed into a nearby desk.

'Of course Jounouchi would be in my homeroom this year, he has been every other year since we started high school, why should things change now? There goes my nice little r&r. There's never any peace with that klutz around!'

Kaiba spun around. His mood was even worse than it had been before and he was ready to take some of his bitterness out on the clumsy blond who now picking himself up off of the floor, wincing as he examined his raw hands. Not realizing who he had just bumped into; Jounouchi began to mumble a hasty "I'm sorry" before he noticed Kaiba standing in front of him. Jounouchi's eye's darkened and his apology quickly became a growled "Kaiba you…!" as he glared at the Ceo.

"You better finish your apology mutt; I expect a full one for bumping into me like that. A little groveling from you and I might just forgive you." Kaiba sneered as he glared down at Jounouchi. He might actually enjoy homeroom if the idiot wasn't in the same class as he was. Jounouchi had always managed to turn what should have been a quiet part of the school day into a noisy ruckus. At least homeroom was the only class he ever had with the boy.

"Like I care whether or not _you _forgive me Rich Boy!" Jounouchi growled stepping towards Kaiba with fists raised. "And if you call me 'mutt' one more time Rich Boy I swear I'll…"

Kaiba raised an eyebrow, still sneering, "You'll what, growl at me? Too late for that mutt."

"Kaiba!" Jounouchi took a swing at the brunette with his fist. Kaiba shifted his weight ready to block the oncoming attack. But Jounouchi's fist never made it anywhere near Kaiba's body, as his friend Honda had chosen that moment to grab Jounouchi by his shirt and pull him roughly back, away from the CEO.

"Calm down Jou," Honda sighed "He's not worth it,just ignore him and you won't have to deal with him."

"But…" Jounouchi growled, still glaring at Kaiba.

"Honda's right Jou," Yuugi piped in "Let's find our seats before sensei gets back, you don't want a detention on your first day back at school do you Jou?"

The group of friends found their seats near the window and began chatting happily to each other. Kaiba walked swiftly to the far end of the room and set his briefcase down next to the desk farthest from the window and the annoying group of friends. Pulling out his latest book, Kaiba flicked through the pages to his current page and desperately tried to read the words written under the chapter name. This only caused his headache to worsen as he squinted down at the tiny lettering. Frustrated he threw the book aside and began to scan the room for some form of entertainment. His attention settled on Yugi and his group of cheerleaders who were currently engaged in what sounded like a very noisy (at least as far a Jounouchi was concerned) discussion on current duel monster card prices.

Kaiba shrugged slightly and began to observe the chatty group more thoroughly. They might be annoying but they were at the very least more interesting than the rest of the mindless students that prowled the halls of the school. And Jounouchi's frequent antics were always surefire means to a good show.

Kaiba allowed his mind to wander for awhile as he watched Jounouchi attempt to strangle Honda (probably for making certain comments about his sister). His thoughts turned to the last time he had seen the group, in Egypt, it had been six months since then. The young CEO had been so busy that he had been unable to attend school for the rest of the semester, and summer had been even more hectic. No, he certainly hadn't had any time for chit-chat with anyone who wasn't interested in doing business with him.

'They've changed a bit haven't they? Well I suppose it's to be expected. Physical appearances can change a lot in half a year, Mokuba's grown at least 4cm since the Egyptian incident.'

The group had, indeed, changed a little since Kaiba had last seen then, Yugi, though still very short, appeared to have grown slightly over the past six months, and his boyish face was beginning to take on the sharper lines and edges of an adult. Anzu appeared to have lost some weight since Kaiba had at least seen her, probably through one of those creepy pop diets teenage girls seemed to be so in to at that time. Both Bakura and Otogi had significantly longer hair than before. Otogi still kept his in a long sweaping ponytail but Bakura seemed to have given up on the letting his hair down "free style" and had at least attempted to pull it up into a slightly sloppy ponytail like Otogi's. Honda and Jounouchi showed the most change over the past six months. As far as Kaiba could remember both of them had been similarly built lanky teenage boys when he had last left them. This was not the case for either of them now. The differences between their current body types were slightly surprising. Honda, who had originally been the same size as Jounouchi, was now significantly bigger, both in height and weight. His muscles were beginning to develop into firm body-builder like structures and he was already looking quite bulky and powerful.

'He wouldn't make a bad bodyguard someday' Kaiba mused as he examined Honda.

Jounouchi seemed to have gone down a completely different structural path than his friend. He was definitely leaner than Kaiba remembered him. All signs of remaining baby fat were gone replaced with tight flexible muscles, like those of a cat. His entire structure suggested still undiscovered graces and elegance; something that somehow seemed to fit him perfectly. Jounouchi's face was still soft however; a stern pointed look would never had suited him, though his jaw bones were definitely more pronounced than before his cheery dimples and puppy dog eye remained intact. Though they now combined to give him a slightly more handsome appearance than before.

'Well what do you know? The mutt might actually turn out to be a bit of a looker. Who would have thought?'

The blue-eyed teen's musings were cut short about 20 minutes after his observations by the ringing of the school bell signaling the end of the students' first day back at school. Kaiba, who had been staring fixedly at Jounouchi since the beginning of the period nearly hit himself with annoyance after he realized what he had been doing.

'Get a hold of yourself Seto' he though as he glided out of the classroom 'just because you may have just noticed he might by mildly attractive doesn't mean you have to gawk at him like that. And really he hasn't changed that much, he was about as good-looking as before I just noticed it now because actually took the time to compare him to that oaf Honda, it's just a symptom of insane boredom, I'm too easily distracting by petty and pointless things. I'll probably be better after my latte.'

Back at his office and small dark haired boy pounced on Kaiba as he entered through the front doors, nearly causing him to spill the French vanilla iced latte he had picked up from the coffee shop on his way to work.

"Good Afternoon nii-san! How was school? Did you have any trouble getting here after that accident that backed up traffic this morning? I know I sure did! The chauffer was able to go and pick me up some lunch from a nearby restaurant without even pulling the limo over the traffic was so slow!"

Mokuba Kaiba wrapped his brother in a tight hug as he him with childish enthusiasm. The thirteen year old had thankfully yet to surrender to the jaded aloofness of adolescents his age.

"Things seem to have cleared up now, I had no trouble getting here. Now will you please let go of me Mokuba?

Kaiba brushed his little brother off with a wave of his hand and headed towards the elevator, Mokuba tailing closely behind.

"Oh by the way Seto can I got out with Yugi and his friends Saturday night? That new action movie is coming out and I really wanted to see it."

Ding! The elevator doors opened up, Seto stepped distractedly into the cramped container, shuffling through some paper work he needed for a meeting that afternoon.

"I didn't quite catch that Mokuba. I'm busy at the moment could you talk to me about it later?"

"You're always busy Seto, just say yes and I'll be off your back."

"No way are you getting away with that, just wait a little bit and I'll get back to you."

"But Seto it's a simple yes or no answer. All I asked was if I could go to the movie with Yugi and his friends Saturday night."

"Who exactly do you mean by Yugi's friends that shrimp seems to make some everywhere he goes. You're going to have to be specific."

"Oh come on, you know who I'm talking about; Anzu, Bakura, Honda, Otogi, _Jounouchi__…_the usual people." Mokuba had purposely whispered the last name. For some reason there was something about Jounouchi that his brother found particularly irksome, and he didn't want to jeopardize his Saturday night out with the gang.

"No. There is no way I'm letting you out unsupervised with that idiot. Who knows what could happen when Jounouchi's around. You're not going and that's final.

"But Seto…Yugi and Anzu will be there to and neither of them are going to let anything happen. Besides Jou's a nice guy, he's not going to get me into trouble."

"No means no and that's final."

"But Setoooooooo"

"NO!"

"You're one seriously manipulative little punk you know that right Mokuba."

"I guess I take after you then big brother."

Seto sighed as he watched his little brother get ready for his outing that night. He wasn't even sure how he had let Mokuba talk him into letting him go, but he really couldn't take it back now. Yugi and his friends would be arriving any minute and the news that Mokuba would not be allowed to come was sure to cause some sort of outburst from Jounouchi; something Kaiba was not exactly in the mood to handle at the moment.

"Just make sure the idiot doesn't do anything too stupid alright?"

What exactly is your problem with Jou anyway Seto. You're at least mildly polite to the rest of Yugi's friends what's wrong with him."

"He's a complete moron who doesn't even deserve to be part of the species as the rest of humanity."

"He's really not as stupid as you make him out to be Seto. Jounouchi can actually pretty intelligent when he wants to why don't you give him a chance."

Mokuba did have a point, why _didn't _he give Jounouchi a chance. Surely no one could be as idiotic as he believed the blond to be. There were actually times when the blond could be…almost fascinating, unpredictable yet strangely warm. Like…today. Kaiba shuddered, he couldn't believe the blond had managed to capture his attention for so long by merely existing. But he wasn't about to admit any of his thoughts about Jounouchi to Mokuba or anyone for that matter.

"I've given Jounouchi far too many chances, he'll never be anymore than a moronic fool. Now finish getting ready and fun with your friends!"

Kaiba snapped the statement out a bit more harshly than he intended too. Mokuba raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing more. An awkward silence began to fall over the two of them, but was thankfully cut short by the sound of the doorbell ringing.

"I'll get it!" Mokuba cried; pulling on his jacket and rushing towards the door as fast as he could.

"One second Mokuba! I need to lay down some ground rules with your little friends before I'm going to let you out with them."

"Fiiiine," Mokuba glared at his brother

Just as Kaiba was about to open the door a loud obnoxious knocking came from the other side of the door.

'Jounouchi's getting impatient,' Kaiba sighed.

"Hey Rich Boy! I'm getting really impatient out here. Are you going to open up sometime in the next cen-…" Jounouchi gulped as Kaiba slammed open the door.

"I hope you have some extra money stored away in that crapshoot apartment of yours Jounouchi because if you plan on breaking this door down you better also plan on paying for it!"

"Then answer your door next time Rich Boy, some of us have lives you know and we can't spend them waiting in front of your ugly ass house!"

"Jounouchi if you…"

"Hey hey, ease up you two, quit it with the profanities I'm still an easily influenced kid remember." Mokuba had thankfully chosen that moment to squeeze from behind his brother and step between the two."

"Thanks for that Mokuba," an exasperated Anzu sighed. "Let's get going before these two rip each other apart."

"Sure thing! See ya Seto!" Mokuba waved good bye to his brother but all he got was a distracted nod. Kaiba had just noticed what Jounouchi was wearing that night. He was wearing his usually drabby street clothes, only less of them. Instead of his usual tee-shirt Jounouchi was wearing a tang top that was slighty to small for him, the fact that his jeans not only were tighter than usual but also hung considerably lower on his waste than they usually did left a considerable amount of his muscled stomach showing. The unzipped jacket Jounouchi wore over the tang top did little to hide the exposed skin. Kaiba seriously doubted Jounouchi had chosen those particular clothes for any sort of attration- he'd probably just grabbed whatever outfit he had had lying around before he went out that night- but Kaiba was definitely feeling a good deal of attraction from those clothes, Jounouchi's bare navel was greatly apprecia... Shit! There was no way he could be looking at Jounouchi like that. Kaiba quickly said "Be back by 11 Mokuba," before slamming the door as quickly as he could.

'Shit!, Shit! Shit! That's the second time this week I've done that,' Kaiba dug his nails into his palm trying to calm himself down. What was it about Jounouchi lately that just caught his attention? Okay so what if he was developing a slight attraction to Jounouchi. He had found himself attracted to several members of both sexes over his life time, but he had never found such attractions as, _distracting_ as he had before. Why was Jounouchi so distracting all of the sudden? Okay so maybe he _was _slightly more attractive than when Kaiba had last seen him but not significantly so, really just a little bit of growth out of the awkward teenage stage. It may have been what had made him first look at Jounouchi a little bit closer in the classroom on the first day of school, but there had to be some other reason for this continued distraction. Kaiba sighed, shrugging his shoulders. He'd have to think about this more later; right now he had work to do.


	2. Emerald Leaves and Black Dragon

"Come on Jounouchi buy me some candy! Seto only gave me enough money to make it into the movie!" Mokuba whined at Jounouchi as the blond ordered soft drinks and snacks for the rest of the gang who had already gone into the theater to get some good seats.

"Noooo way kid! I'm not gonna fuel your sugar addiction, you need to lay off the stuff once and awhile."

"And you could lay off food in general for awhile, you're gonna fat eating all those hot dogs and French Fries Jounouchi."

"Nu-uh, I've got a super human metabolism; I could eat of buffet and wouldn't gain a bound. My stomachs pretty much a bottomless blackhole."

"Speaking of stomach what's with the unusual display of abdomen Jou? You usually just wear a set of baggy tee-shirts and jeans, why the style change?"

"Ha! Otogi made me wear it; he said there was no way I was getting any girls without a change of style; this was the best he could get out of my closet. I think he's trying to get on my good side now that he's chasing after my sister.

"Hmmm, well he has a point the look suits you."

"You think so?" Jounouchi asked thoughtfully, rubbing his hand behind his head. "Maybe I try this look everyone once in awhile, a new style change couldn't hurt, I guess."

"I wish my brother was as opened minded about style changes as you were Jounouchi, I keep on asking him to let me get my ears pierced and he always says no."

"He won't let you get your ears pierced? What's the deal with that? I mean I could understand if it were you eyebrow or nose or something but what's wrong with your ears? Lots of guys are getting their ears pierced now, it's not like there's anything weird about it."

"Yeah I know but he still says no and that piercing place at the mall requires a guardian's permission."

"What if you got one of those ear piercing kits? I don't think you need to have a guardian's permission to get one of those. Tell you what Mokuba I'll buy you one at the mall sometime with some cools earrings, and we can pierce your ears sometime when your brother isn't home."

"Wow! Really Jounochi! Thanks a lot."

"Hey, no prob. Anything that'll make rich boy squirm. Now help me with these snacks and let's get to the theater before the movie starts."

"K Jou let's get going."

Jounouchi and Mokuba walke side by side towards the theater, Both enthusiastically theorizing Kaiba's reaction to Mokuba's ear piercings. Mokuba, much to Jounouchi's surprise, didn't seem to mind making fun of his brother he even pulled off a few good Kaiba imitations before they arrived at the theater.

'The younger Kaiba's not bad at all." Jounouchi thought as he sat down next to Yugi. "I wonder how he can be so easy going with a stiff like Kaiba for a brother. Maybe Kaiba isn't 

always the jerk he acts like around us. Naaah, no way, Mokuba's just a good kid, that's all nothing to do with his brother. But still…'

"Hey man pass the popcorn quit hogging it all to yourself," Honda whispered to Jounouchi, way too loudly to be considered polite.

"Shut up you idiot the movie's gonna start soon," Jououchi whispered back, equally loudly, while chucking a piece of popcorn at Honda. Honda flinched when the piece of popcorn hit him, and then grinned as he grabbed a piece of candy from the box beside him.

"If you're gonna be like that then take this," Honda chucked the piece of candy at Jounouchi, who preceded to doge it while hurling a second piece of popcorn. Their food fight continued for awhile, joined by an enthusiastic Mokuba and laughing Yugi, before Anzu had had enough and scolded all of them before grabbing all of their snacks and tossing them into a nearby trashcan, this lead to quite some grumbling from Jounouchi and Honda about the lack of food, but they settled down once the movie started. All thoughts Jounouchi might have previously had about either of the Kaiba brothers had all but entirely vanished from his mind; at least for the moment.

The gang visited a small restaurant after the movie to grab some food, since their movie theater snacks had been dumped into a trash can uneaten. Otogi and Bakura bid the rest a rather sudden adieu when Jounouchi and Honda received their food, neither of them felt like regurgitating the contents of their stomachs. Anzu and Yugi just had to ride it out, they were both hungry themselves and were by then used to Honda and Jounouchi's "table manners" 

enough so that it didn't bother them as much as before. Mokuba didn't seem to mind at all. He snarffed down his noodles almost as quickly as Jounouchi and Honda.

"Slow down Mokuba," Anzu scolded. "You're giving Jounouchi and Honda a run for their money. What would your brother think if he saw you eating like this?"

"Come on my brother wouldn't…Oh Shit! My Brother! He told me to be back by 11:00 it's already 11:30! I gotta get back home."

Mokuba grabbed his coat and attempted to make a dash for the door, only to be held back by Jounouchi.

"Just a second Mokuba, let me walk ya home, it's dangerous for a little kid like you to being walking alone at night, especially since you're the brother of the richest man In town."

"Thanks Jounouchi, you do have a point, I don't think Seto would be too happy if I got kidnapped again."

Jounouchi and Mokuba nodded a swift farewell to their friends before heading out of the restaurant into the cool night air. Or what had been the cool night air a couple hours ago, rain was now coming down in buckets, freezing every bone in their body.

"Got any more money on ya Mokuba?" Jounouchi muttered to his younger friend.

"Nope, none. How bout you?"

"None. So I guess hailing a taxi is out of the question."

"Yep, definitely."

"Any other options?"

"How fast can you run?"

The two sprinted the full 12 blocks to the Kaibas' house. By the time they go there they were both out of breath, very wet, and very late."

"Come inside for a bit and warm up Jounouchi," Mokuba whispered as he slid his keycard into the slot next to the door and typed the security code into the panel beside it. "Seto could still be working, he might not have noticed that I was la…Darn."

Mokuba had slammed head first into his elder brother, who had been waiting impatiently in front of the door for his younger brother to return.

"I expect a full explanation for this Mokuba. It's an hour after your curfew, and I've already spent valuable time sending a few of the guards out to search for you, I was just about to go looking for you myself.

"I'm sorry Seto it won't happen again. I just…"

"Hey easy on the kid rich boy it wasn't his fault!" Jounouchi cut in, stepping in for his friend. "We took him to a restaurant after the show and didn't keep track of the time, Mokuba was the one who noticed he was running late."

"It was Mokuba's responsibility to keep track of his curfew, not anyone else's. And what are you doing here any way's Jounouchi, I don't recall giving you permission to be on my property again."

"Jounouchi was just walking me home Seto. I was the one who invited him to come inside for a little while to get out of the rain." Mokuba hurriedly jumped back into the conversation, bringing to a halt, the fight that appeared to be brewing between the two young men.

"Yeah, speaking of which, _could_ I come in?" Mokuba's statement had distracted Jounouchi from his ensuing fight long enough to realize that he was still standing, soaking wet, on the porch, in the middle of a monsoon.

Kaiba pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to calm himself down. There was no, real, logical reason why he shouldn't invite Jounouchi inside for a little while. He had, after all, just strayed quite far out of his way to ensure that Mokuba got home safely. And it wasn't like he would be expected to stick around playing host; Mokuba could do that just fine. Kaiba glanced over at Jounouchi, still standing in the rain. With his hair all plastered over his face and his body shivering from the cold, Jounouchi really did look like a poor, bedraggled puppy. Kaiba had to bite back a witty remark about dogs bowing at their master's feet. The task became much easier when Kaiba let his eyes drop and realized that Jounouchi's tang top had become very wet, and very see through, outlining every line of Jounouchi's chest perfectly. He had to get out of there, fast, that scene was too, distracting, déjà vu all over again.

"Fine then, Mokuba, Jounouchi can come in, let him stay the entire night if he wants to. Just make sure whatever antics you two get up to don't disturb my work. Good night then." And with that Kaiba was off, walking swiftly towards the stairs without another word.

"Man he sure got out of site quickly, I wonder why," Jounouchi blinked confusedly at the stairs, up which Kaiba had disappeared mere seconds ago.

"That's Seto for you," Mokuba said, shrugging.

"I don't think I'm ever gonna get what goes on in that guy's head," Jounouchi sighed.

"Funny I think I recall him saying something similar recently about you."

"He just won't let his ego shrink down to that of a mere mortal's for awhile."

"Seto's head really isn't that big Jounouchi, I think you two match egos pretty well."

"No way! At least I'll admit when I've made a mistake, rich boy always tries to pass the blame onto someone else."

Mokuba rolled his eyes; as if Jounouchi didn't do that too! "Fine have it your way, here come up stairs, we both need some dry clothes, and from the looks of things you'll be spending the night so well have to get a cot out of one of the cupboards." Mokuba lead Jounouchi upstairs, pausing every now and then to draw the awed boy away from the house's exquisite styling. Jounouchi had been to the Kaiba manor a couple times before but he had never gotten used to the pure extravagance of it.

"Just out of curiosity, have you two ever tried getting along?" Mokuba asked, mainly trying to distract Jounouchi from a particularly large mural of the blue eyes white dragon.

"Once, when I first met him, I tried to be nice to him but he was completely rude to me from the start."

"And you haven't done anything since then to try to get on my brother's good side?"

"Why don't you try now?"

"Why should I?"

"Cause you guys haven't seen each other in the past couple months. Haven't you ever heard absence makes the heart grow fonder?"

"That's only if there was any fondness in the heart to begin with."

"Maybe there was and you just never realized it yet until you'd had time to mull it over without the person, perhaps after awhile of separation two people who thought they disliked each other realized actually turned out to be friends." Mokuba was beginning to talk almost wishfully, he hadn't realized how nice if his little conversation starter turned out to be true. Having Jounouchi and the rest of his friends around more often would definitely make things much more fun, and Seto might actually be able to loosen up a little bit. That would be great for both him and his brother.

'Yeah, in your dreams Mokuba' Jounouchi thought to himself 'there's no way Kaiba and I would ever get that close even if I wanted to try. But he does seem really enthusiastic about the idea, best to just change the subject before he gets sold on it.'

"So ahh, Mokuba. Where exactly can I get a change of clothes again?"

"Oh yeah, sorry about that, come over here. Seto's old room is just down the hall you might fit into some of his clothes."

_Kaiba was dreaming, he knew that, there was no other way he could see her, still alive and strong, opening her arms to hold him in a soft embrace. "Mother…" _

_"Shhhh, Seto," She held him closer, allowing her warmth to seep through him; how long had it been since he had felt like this? 11, 12 years; too long in his opinion. But why was he having this dream now. _

_"Why…" she laughed as she shushed his half finished question. Ahhhh her laugh, light hearted and kind, not necessarily pretty but definitely warm. _

_"I'm here to help, your father and I are worried for you, it's been so long since our deaths, but your smile still continues to elude this world. We want to see you to smile again Seto. SO we've been a few plans to help bring it out. Don't worry, everything will be alright, but don't be surprised if things get a little hectic around here for awhile, just remember it's all for your happiness."_

_"Wait, what are you going to do?" The tone in his mother's voice was beginning to worry Kaiba, it sounded a little too mischievous for his liking. He remembered too late just where Mokuba got his trickster tendencies from. _

_"Good bye Seto, this won't be the last time we meet, I promise!"_

_"Wait, Mother!" He was getting a little frustrated now, just like her to keep people guessing like that. "MOTHER!"_

_But she was gone, vanished with nothing more than an echo of a joyful laugh left to show she had been there at all. _

Kaiba opened his eyes slowly; still trying to hold onto his dream as he though thought his mother might back to comfort him.

'Of course she wouldn't. She'll never change, not even in my dreams. That woman always had her own way of doing things; ended each one of my bed time stories with a cliff-hanger. Why the hell am I worrying about her anyway? She's gone and I'm not a little boy anymore who needs his mother's constant affection, I can take care of myself.'

His eyes fully open now, Kaiba glanced over at his still glowing computer screen. He had only been asleep at his desk for about twenty minutes. It was best, probably, to get up and take a shower now before heading to bed. He had already finished his work for that night anyways. Stretching slightly, Kaiba stepped out of his office and into the hallway that lead to the bathroom. A warm shower would be nice after such a long day; his neck could certainly use the relaxation.

Kaiba absently mindedly stepped into the bathroom nearest to his room, the one he most often used. His mind on the meeting he'd be having the next day, Kaiba didn't even the notice the sound of the shower running as he distractedly pulled off his clothes. Still not paying attention to what he was doing, he began to pull back the shower curtain, only to be stopped short when a surprised yelp brought him back to reality.

'That's right, Jounouchi's staying the night' How could Kaiba have forgotten.

"What the hell are you doing Kaiba!" Jounouchi was almost screeching, so high was his shock from being seen, butt naked, by none other than Seto Kaiba.

'Of all people, why him' the blond mentally wailed 'I really didn't want anyone to know yet, I'm not even sure why I got it! Oh shit I think he's staring at me! What's he doing? Sizing me up? Great he's probably just getting ready for another one of him smart ass comments. Whatever he does please don't let him look at my chest, please, please, please. Oh shit his eyes are , moving downward. Shit! Shit! Shit!'

Kaiba could feel his eyes wandering down from Jounouchi's face, he couldn't help himself, his newly discovered hormones were not about to pass this moment up. He was lucky, Jounouchi was still in a state of shock and the thought hadn't crossed his mind yet to make an attempt to cover himself up. Instead, Jounouchi was plastered a against the shower was, arms and legs still frozen from surprise body spread out perfectly for Kaiba to see everything. A predatory smirk crossed Kaiba's lips for the briefest of moments before logic and reason, straitened his face again. This was too good to be true, at the moment Kaiba didn't even care about why he enjoyed Jounouchi's body so much in the first place, all that really mattered was that he _definitely_ did enjoy it, and he wanted to enjoy as much of it as possible. But Kaiba's eyes only managed to reach Jounouchi's chest before freezing in their place. Kaiba had never thought Jounouchi would be to be very much into body-art of any kind, but he had been apparently wrong on that account. Sprawling across, Jounouchi's upper torsos, was none other than the the red eyes black dragon. It's head was placed, facing Kaiba, at the crook of Jounouchi's neck, winks unfurled across his toned chest and tail curled lazily down to his stomach. Kaiba didn't get much more chance to look at the tattoo before a towel hurriedly blocked his view. Jounouchi had come to his senses and was now nervously gaping at the CEO.

Kaiba smirked. He may not have had time to take in all he wanted to, but an equally enjoyable part was fast approaching. Now was the time to mock Jounouchi.

"Not a bad tatoo Jounouchi. But don't you think a cocker spaniel would have suited you better."

"Shut it rich boy," Jounouchi murmured_, _flushing from both anger and embarrassment. It really was a stupid thing to do, getting a tattoo just to spite his father, he had gotten it to prove a point that the drunk had no power over him, he had regretted it almost instantly, especially now since the old man worked so hard to sober up. But he had managed to keep the tattoo hidden from his friends for the past several months, now, it seemed, his cover was blown."

"Or a Chihuahua, you both sound the same, yapping enough to give everyone around you a headache."

"I said shut it!" Jounouchi yelled swinging his fist full force towards Kaiba, but he dodged the swing with ease. Growling, Jounouchi coiled his fist back, ready for round two, but he never got a chance to swing, because at that very moment the loud ring of the doorbell echoed through the halls, distracting both of them.

Kaiba was out the door, fully clothed before Jounouchi could even blink. Whatever reason someone would have for ringing the doorbell at this time of night it had to be urgent. The bell rung once more as Kaiba headed down stairs, followed by a short knock at the door, it didn't sound particularly patient more politely urgent, the "It would be greatly appreciated if 

you could answer quickly" sort of knock. Kaiba reached the door a few seconds late and opened it, hoping that whatever business this person had with him, it would be quick, he was tired. The man standing in front of the door was quite old, and looked extraordinarily frail; definitely not one of those business tycoons Kaiba was used to. He was wearing an old patched trench coat and a rather beaten but clearly well cared for hat; he looked like one of those faterly English professors who showed up in old movies. What on earth could this old man possibly want with the CEO of one of the largest companies in the world?

The old man removed his hat slightly to give a short bow before beginning to speak. "Good evening Mr. Kaiba might I come in for a little bit? I'm afraid I've lost my way and it is rather wet out."

Kaiba couldn't help but raise his eyebrows for a short second, the old man seemed so strange. But he soon regained his senses and stepped aside to let the old man pass; he didn't appear to be particularly dangerous.

"Thank you very much Mr. Kaiba, I certainly appreciate it."

"Big brother what's going on? Mokuba and Jounouchi had appeared at the top of the stairs, based on the frazzled look of his clothes, Jounouchi had attempted to get dressed as fast as he could though he hadn't managed to do it with the same smoothness as Kaiba had.

"Nothing's wrong Mokuba. This old man just needed a place to stay and get dry that's all. He's the same as Jounouchi, now why don't you go get him so coffee and get back to bed."

Moukba still sounded vaguely confused when he answered his older brother, "Uhh, sure no problem, I guess. What would you like in your coffee ummmm…"

"You may call me Mr. Puck, and just a small dash of sugar thank you, and no cream thank you, it gives me a stomach ache." The old man said as he made himself comfortable on a nearby couch.

"Yeah, sure, be right back Mr. Puck-san," Mokuba dashed off towards he kitchen leaving Jounouchi alone with Kaiba and the strange old man. After considering his options, Jounouchi headed down towards the couch where Mr. Puck was sitting, thinking that he might as well find out who the old man was while he was here.

"So, ummm, Mr. Puck-san, watcha ya doin in around in this part of town anyway, you don't look like ya around here." Kaiba rolled his eyes, of all the ways Jounouchi could choose to start a conversation he had to choose the most cliché and unoriginal questions out there.

The old man sniggered slightly at Jounouchi's question, as if enjoying a personal joke between the two of them, though Jounouchi had no clue what he thought was so funny.

'Great, he's senile,' Jounouchi thought, becoming slightly nervous.

"I suppose you could say that," the old man chimed, still sniggering. "Though it depends how you define "around here" really," At this the old man started to laugh uncontrollably, but the joke was still no clearer to Kaiba and Jounouchi as it had been before.

"Listen old man, I'm busy at the moment so I'll just leave Jounouchi here to entertain you," Kaiba coughed, already striding towards the stairs."

"Ahh don't worry don't worry, I'm sure this young lad here and I will enjoy ourselves just fine," Mr. Puck waved Kaiba away. Jounouchi, for the first time ever, was sorry to see him go. He wasn't too sure about spending time alone with the old man. Mokuba it appeared had already vanished, he had someone managed to leave Mr. Puck his coffee and run off without being detected.

'Well I guess I know where I stand with him. Some friend, but I guess in situations like this it's every man for himself.' It looked like Jounouchi would be handling the old man all by himself now. Just great.

"Err so, Mr. Puck, I guess I'm supposed to entertain you right? Or do you wanna get to sleep. It is kinda late ya know." Jounouchi hinted cautiously, hoping to get away from Mr. Puck as soon as possible, hthe old man gave him the creeps.

"Aha, boy, It is not you who will entertain me but I who will entertain you, it is after all custom to bring at the very least a story for those who will grace you with their hospitality."

"So, what's your story old man" Jounouchi grumbled at least all he had to do is pretend to listen.

"Sit down, make yourself comfortable, and I'll tell you a story that might be worth your while."

Rolling his eyes Jounouchi sat down in the nearest armchair and crossed his arms. "Well, I'm listening."

"Patients, patients lad, well here we go. ahem. Once upon a time, before mankind relied on computers and powerful telescopes to learn of the ways of the universe, people learned from nature. They heard, saw, and observed, with their own eyes, ears and intuition, all things around them. And Mother Nature would teach them of her ways, provided they would listen closely enough, for she, like any other mother, would not have her children ignorant of the world around them. There was one boy who was particularly good at listening; he was, after all, very curious, and had many questions that he wanted answering. Mother Nature, in her own way, answered all his questions. She explained to him why the sun rose and set, showed him where the best places to plant crops were, told him which people were good and which should be avoided.

The boy learned a great deal from Mother Nature, and she never failed to answer his question, until one day he asked her a question she could not answer. "Mother Nature," the boy asked her one day. 'What is love?'

'My child, I'm afraid I cannot answer that, for though I am old, love is even older still.' Mother Nature sighed. 'Love is a powerful thing, and something each individual person can only discover on his own. No one can control it and no one can understand it fully.'

This made the boy frustrated, for he did not like it when he couldn't understand things. "Very well," he said "If you cannot answer my question, then I'll will look elsewhere, surely there is someone who knows the answer to my question," So the boy left Mother Nature and began to search the world for the answer to his question.

The boy searched for many years. He discovered many truths, and many hardships but still could not find the answer to his question. The boy, who by then had grown in to a tall handsome youth, became more and more frustrated, until at last he cried out, 'perhaps I cannot understand love but at the very least I can control, I shall prove Mother Nature wrong, for sure!'

He pored through pored through books upon books, experimented with potions of the most volatile kind, and scoured the land for the best and rarest ingredients. He worked for days on end, ate little and slept even less. Years went by, then decades, and the youth became a very old man. He studies, and scourged, and mixed for 60 year until, at long last, he produced a small vile, filed with a deep purple liquid. 'Just one drop of this potion and the victim will fall in love with the first person he or sees' the twisted old man cackled. 'At last I have discovered how to control love. With this potion I will be able to unveil all of it's secrets.'

But the man had little time left, for he was very old. Death was already saddling his horse to pay him a visit. The man had other plans, however, and when Death came to his home, the man summoned a magical mist, to put Death to sleep. While Death was slumbering soundly, the man grasped his precious potion, and ran. He did not get far, however, his old knees were not as good as they once were and the land around his home, torn apart by his wicked experiments, was difficult and unruly. The man tripped, and fell, and in doing so, dropped his precious potion. The vile shattered and the liquid was quickly absorbed by the dry, thirsty ground. The man cried out in frustration, his entire life's work, had just been destroyed in front of his very own eyes. Death, hearing his cry, awoke, and upon realizing the old man's 

trickery, became very angry. With one swift slash from Death's scythe the man breathed his last breath, his soul doomed to eternal punishment in the underworld.

Neither Death nor the man noticed the flower that had suddenly sprouted from the barren wasteland. It's leaves were full and emerald green, it's stem blue as the sky, and it's blossoms, the most velvety shade of deep purple. It is said, that the slightest dusting from this flower, will make a man or woman fall in love instantly, with the first person he or she sees."

It took several moments for Jounouchi to realize the Mr. Puck has finished his story, he had been so enraptured with the tale he barely notice how much time had passed, his mood changed quickly when he glanced up at the clock, it was already, 5am. Damn! And he had told Yuugi he would meet him outside the game shot at seven to help him and his grandfather unpack the cards the old man had ordered for the shop. It Look like he wasn't going to get much sleep that night.

"Well ummm Mr. Puck, I liked tha story, but I got ta get ta bed now, is it a'right if we go get some shut eye?"

"Certainly lad," Mr Puck grinned, "I can see you're quite tired. Please just allow me one final parting gift before I take my leave."

Jounouchi blinked at this, "take my leave?" wasn't the old man staying here for the night? He couldn't honestly be thinking about journeying back out onto the street? Things were still quite dangerous at this time in the morning the old man could be pick pocketed or worse. 

Jounouchi opened his mouth to say something but was distracted my something long and slim being shoved into his hand. Confused he glanced at the old man for an clue as to what he was doing.

"For your kindness" Mr. Puck explained "I believe you'll enjoy this, for whatever use you'll make of it, now I bid thee adieu."

Jounouchi looked down at the object in his hand, it was a flower, a beautiful flower, with emerald leaves, a sky blue stem, and huge velvety deep purple blossoms. Jounouchi gasped as realization hit him, this couldn't be, could it?

"Mr. Puck is this…" but as Jonouchi raised his head the old man was nowhere to be found. Mr. Puck had vanished, with no sign that he had ever been there at all, but for the flower still clutched it Jounochi's hand.

I'm not an Anzu basher. I see Anzu as the sensible, almost mother like member of the group, so I usually imagine her dealing with the antics of the sometimes idiotic and perverted teenage boys around her.


End file.
